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Interstellar Travel Bureau
The Interstellar Travel Bureau (ITB) is an office of the Unified Earth Government. It is generally responsible for all non-military space travel that occurs in most of Known Space. Though in charge of civilian traffic, the ITB is a subsection of the United Nations Space Command. The ITB is responsible for establishing trade routes between star systems, writes guidelines, sets standards for spacecraft, handles the Interstellar Private Spacecraft Registry (IPSR), which is a complete record of all civilians that own private interstellar craft. The ITB cooperates with multiple customs agencies all over Human space. The ITB does not have jurisdiction outside of Human Space, but it does follow the Extrauniversal Exploration Act to the letter. Despite their name, the Bureau also has authority within planetary systems, and technically speaking, intergalactic space. Description & Function As long as civilian space travel has been in existence, the ITB has been facilitating the rules and regulations of space travel. Contrary to popular belief, it is very difficult to plan and execute any form of interstellar flight, regardless of whether or not it is of military or civilian method. Generally speaking, most common space flight is done through companies that are specifically in the business of transporting civilians. These companies, though privately owned, still have to conform to the rules set out by the ITB. The Bureau itself is attached to the UNSC which manages spaceflight in general as part of its design. The decision for there to be a civilian-focused part of the organization is no accident. The choice was made because of the vast amounts of spaceflight knowledge already available to the UNSC that is gathered using both regular military ships and Frontier Corps vessels. The Interstellar Travel Bureau is instrumental in an individual hoping to gain certification in operating a starship. If a civilian wishes to fly, they must gain the approval of the ITB, meaning that the civilian in question must go through a rigerous testing phase, must pay to acquire certification in order to operate a spacecraft, must go through criminal background and psychological tests to determine whether the pilot will succumb to stress. They must also reigister with the ITB in order to be in the system. This system helps the Bureau send automatic updates to pilots involving new astronomical information, stellar activity, trade route reports, warnings involving astronomical phenomena, battles, or political obstacles. In the event that the pilot commits an infraction while piloting a vessel (e.g. endangering lives of passengers, threatening another vessel and/or its crew, destruction of another vessel and/or its crew, etc.) the ITB can send infraction reports, fines, court demands, or can even lock the controls of the ship in question while the pilot is to await custody from the local authorities. Most civilian craft are subject to sublight velocities. Only a small percentage of private spacecraft owners possess a craft capable of entering Slipspace. Of all pilots registered with the ITB, only about ten percent of these vessels has the ability to enter Slipspace. Most of these ships belong to travel companies that regularly jump to different worlds with loads of passengers. Many others are trading vessels, when not automated, are large enough to make such jumps. Pleasure craft only take up a paltry three percent of this craft, mostly belonging to richer individuals. It is not illegal for a civilian to mount a Slipspace drive onto their craft - it is only costly to do so. However, when a drive is mounted, it must be reported to the ITB. Given the population of Human space, the percentage of the population that actually travels regularly in space is a very low number. Of the 1.77 trillion Human beings in existence, only about 40 billion make regular trips between different worlds. A further twenty billion report to rare trips - less than five in their lifetimes. About 30 billion have reported to making a one-way trip across a lightyear or more. This means that only 90 billion Humans make the trip into space. The remaining 1.761 trillion Humans do not make any form of regular spaceflight with the exception of quick orbital jaunts between moons. Those that live in space colonies are not counted as spaceflight. The reasons for the vast majority of Humans not going into space boils down to three leading reasons - the lack of money to make such a flight, the lack of reason to travel, and the most popular being the lack of care in the interest of space flight. This makes the ITB's job relatively easy. 90 billion registered individuals is far easier to compute. Despite being a civilian agency, the ITB works closely with the UNSC Navy. Regularly, when a cargo ship or group is threatened, convoys are established that can allow the ships to reach their destinations without fear of attack. In the event that a war breaks out that threatens a world or a sector, the ITB will issue a cordon that is spread through FTL news feeds such as the Galactic News Network. Also thanks to the registry, ships are incapable of travelling to a location when a cordon is issued. Entering coordinates is also locked out as the ship's navigational computer will do a simple check to see if the coordinates are blacklisted. The ITB says though that pilots are free to go wherever they wish if they feel like manually calculating slipspace vectors themselves, as the computer can't lock out quantum mathematical formulae. Despite the ubiquitous nature of the Interstellar Travel Bureau, there do exist ships that are not registered within the ITB's databases. Some of these ships are simply craft that are too small to be classified as space craft. This includes orbital and suborbital haulers, tugs, and shuttles. However, a larger portion of these are referred to as 'non-registered pilots', or more colloquially 'pirates'. Though these vessels aren't always following piratism, the crew may simply be against a registration. While such a ship is not illegal to be in possession of, pilots who are caught can be fined and are encouraged to be registered. The ITB issues serious warnings of the dangers associated with ships not being in the network, as they are unable to recieve new information regarding travel hazards. As a result of this, approximately 60% of all deaths involving pirate vessels are a result of navigational error or interaction with a stellar body resulting in the destruction and/or death of the crew of the vessel involved. After the rediscovery of Mobius and its integration into the Alliance in 3234, the ITB has set up shop in Mobius' space, after gaining approval from the multiple governments on the planet. Since there is no eqivilant of the ITB in Mobius' universe, it was natural to uphold the same rules that would govern UNSC ships. Mobian ships though are excused from the registry demand, effectively being grandfathered into the system. The ITB's influence in Mobius' universe extends to the Kuiper Belt. From there, Mobian space is lawless where anything goes. Outside of this circumstance, the ITB has no presence outside of Human space. List of Appearances *Journal of Sally Acorn (Mentioned Only) Category:Lore Category:Government